Living With A "Get To" Mentality

As a kid, I was always reading Nancy Drew Detective novels which led me to not being a Detective, 😆 but rather, working in Real Estate. As I got got a bit older I thought I’d be a famous singer. Traveling the world in private jets and tour buses, staying in fabulous hotels and wearing fabulous clothes, rather I ended up a wife and mother living the suburban life in Austin, TX.

We don’t always end up exactly where we think we will, or hope we will. Life is ever evolving but sometimes the path we ended up on is much more rewarding than the one we would have chosen for ourselves. But are we enjoying it? Are we grateful for it?

I wouldn’t trade being a mom for anything. Having my son was hands down the best thing that ever happened to me. Diego is my gift from God and my gift to the world. He’s going places & doing things I never would have achieved. In fact, I’d posit he’s my greatest achievement.

When thinking about life I realize that we spend so much of our time living in a fog, going through life day by day always saying things like “I have to go to work” “I have to work out” “I have to lose weight” “I have to make more money”. We say these things like they are a chore, a chore that is required because we’re not where we want to be; doing things we don’t want to do. We trade what I call the “grateful present” for the “ungrateful future” Saying “I have to” means we really don’t want to. We’re dreading what’s coming. It’s something that is required of us. A simple phrase that leaves no room for creativity, exploration, or gratefulness. It’s a phrase of finality.

What if we changed our have to’s for get to’s? For example you’d never say “I have to go on vacation” would you? That’s makes vacation sound like an unpleasant requirement.

“I get to go to work”. “I get to go to the grocery store.” “I get to work out” “I get to go on vacation.” Do you feel the difference?

Saying (I get to) go to work leaves it open-ended. It leaves the possibility of something else. I get to go to work and… make money and… pay for my vacation. I get to go to work and learn a new skill. It sounds more grateful. I get to go on vacation, I get to go to the grocery store sounds like a privilege, not a disadvantage. It sounds like it’s something you want to happen, not something you dread.

Trying catching yourself and your (have to’s) for a few days and swap them for (get to’s) and see if it doesn’t make you perspective and outlook a little more positive, more grateful and make your day to day life feel less like a chore and more like a life of privilege. Even if it is exactly as you’d planned it out to be, you might still be taking every day moments for granted.

I know that that little girl reading Nancy Drew novels all summer break wasn’t doing it because she had do.

She was doing it because she wanted to, because she got to.